The present invention relates generally to wearable optics for outdoor sporting and recreational activities. More particularly, this invention relates to eyeglass lenses having optical properties optimized for outdoor sporting and recreational activities.
In many sporting or recreational activities, such as tennis, skiing, golfing, fishing, or hunting, the participant needs to visualize different scenes, including target objects within such scenes, that are typically associated with that activity. The color spectra and ambient lighting associated with different target objects and scenes in recreational activities can vary, whereby a light filtering lens on an eyeglass should provide preferential viewing for certain color spectra under certain light intensity conditions to accommodate a specific scene typically encountered while participating in the activity. Using golf as an example, a scene whereby the shapes and undulations of a green putting surface being studied while preparing to putt would require different filtering properties for the lens as compared to watching a white ball flying through the air against a bright sky background. Although sunglasses exist that provide a variation in total light transmittance from a top portion of the lens to the bottom portion, such prior art lenses are often configured as standard neutral density filters with UV protection. They do not provide varying optical properties that provide preferential viewing to the wearer of the different color spectra associated with different scenes.
Similarly, these different target objects or scenes often exist at distances that vary between scenes or objects in a relatively consistent manner. For example, during a round of golf, the golfer will often have to locate a target green and flag stick at distances from 200–350 yards away. During that same round, the same golfer will be putting after inspecting the shape and topology of a green from a distance of a few yards. If the golfer wears glasses, the focus distances for each of the repetitive scenes are different. However, there are no eyeglasses available that are optimized for focusing at these distances. Conventional bifocals are intended to provide near focus distance for reading a book, not for reading a green or standing over a golf ball.
In other recreational activities such as fishing, having a lens that incorporates different optical zones having different polarization properties can also be beneficial.
In other sports such as tennis, for another example, it may be desirable to view the same object (a moving tennis ball) at two different distances from the player, with eyeglasses having different optical zones with different optical properties optimized for visualizing the moving ball or other object at different distances.
What is needed, then, is an eyeglass lens that provides a visual perception to the wearer that can vary depending on: (1) the distance between the wearer and the object being viewed; (2) the color spectra of the viewed objects and related foreground and background scenes; (3) the ambient lighting conditions; and/or light polarization.